Now stick your thumb up, a newborn is the size of your thumb! I guess we can see where the term finger monkey or thumb monkey came from. They are also known as a dwarf monkey or a pocket monkey. My article on the finger monkey Finger Monkey Pygmy Marmoset
They are sold as pets, they aren’t legal in many areas, and they are costly. Pygmy marmosets monkey for sale is not an advertisement you will find often. There are potential breeders in the United States.
The Pygmy marmoset needs painstaking care, and they have significant social needs. Please learn all you can about these little monkeys and gain actual experience before considering buying them as a pet. To gain the experience and skills that you need consider volunteering at a zoo or similar organization. This knowledge is crucial for all exotic pets.
This article is based on fact and not meant to represent my opinion if primates should be pets or not.
They have sharp claws which have allowed them to adapt well ecologically to their habitats in the rainforests of South America. They are suited well to the tall trees; camouflaged and protected by the dense foliage and vines. They are quick and have no trouble maneuvering. They are capable of jumping a full 16 feet! They depend on their dexterity and speed to protect themselves from predators. They are able to turn their heads to see completely behind them, pretty much a full 180 degrees.
Pygmy marmosets are omnivorous they eat substances that exudates from trees and vines such as sap and gums, these exudates are the majority of their diet. They will also eat blossoms, fruit, buds, insects, and many things in between.
Groups of Pygmy marmosets are territorial, but they will leave an area so that the plant life won’t be overused. They gouge holes in trees using their lower teeth to drink the sap, resin, and gums from the trees. These holes are left to heal. In some characteristics, they seem smarter than humans do.
As with all primates, pygmy marmosets are social, grooming, playing, and eating together in groups of up to nine monkeys. It’s the social aspects that concern me most when considering primates as pets. The males actually help deliver the babies. He will carry the infants on his back for a couple of weeks, returning the baby monkeys to their mother so that they can nurse.
They have very expressive faces and high pitch shrill voices. If you have an opportunity to see pygmy marmosets in a zoo or primate exhibit pay attention to their faces they are quite animated; the same with their communication.
They have a life expectancy of up to 15 years usually an average of 10-12 years. Their gestation period is 4.5 months. In the wild, they normally twin though they can give birth to three to four. Multiple births of four are more common in zoos and pygmy marmoset breeders.
The Pygmy marmoset is a threatened species primarily because of habitat loss and people gathering them to sell as pets. The United States has banned the import of primates. If you can find a pygmy marmoset for sale, make sure it is a captive bred monkey (legal not poached).
Original Finger Monkey Pygmy Marmoset article
Finger monkeys - while I admit the pictures of a tiny monkey hanging on to a finger are astonishingly cute the closest thing I can find would be a pygmy marmoset. Are finger monkey’s fact or fiction? You decide. The pictures of the finger monkeys are obviously infants observing the faces and the closed eyes.
I use to tour zoos when I was still able to get around before my accident. While I was at the Duluth Zoo in Duluth Minnesota I saw a marmoset for the first time ever in the zoo Primate Conservation Center, which I would like to add the Primate Conservation Center, is amazing.
The animal I believe to be the finger monkey or thumb monkey is the pygmy marmoset that comes from tropical forests of South America. The pygmy marmoset’s average lifespan is around 15 years. The marmoset lives about 25 years. They are of the callitrichid family.
The pygmy marmoset fully grown is around 4.4-5.8 inches body size and the tail 6.5-9 inches. Adult pygmy marmosets weigh from 3.5 to 5 ounces.
These darling little monkeys are highly social, and it would be challenging to raise them at home as an exotic pet. They live in family groups of a couple to nine pygmy marmosets. They reach sexual maturity around 16 months but because of their social order few females are allowed to breed. They weigh about a half ounce at birth. The females will usually have twins though triplets are not uncommon, they can have quadruplets occasionally.
The pygmy marmoset uses a series of trills and calls to communicate as well as body language. As with all primates they communicate chemically using glandular secretion from their scent glands to communicate needs, desires, expectations, and fears.
They are not facing the human predator quite as badly as other monkeys in that they are able to hide quite easily. Though habitat loss is certainly taking its toll on these pygmy marmosets, they are considered threatened and many endangered. Don’t think that for a minute their size will keep them from chasing off an invader, they have a “no fear” attitude. As adults, they can be unpredictable and aggressive. This is another reason they do not make good exotic pets.
The pygmy marmoset is omnivorous, eating insects and other invertebrates, fruit, and plant matter. The majority of their diet is from tree exudates, seed gums, and tree and plant sap. They chew holes in trees with their long lower incisors. Their diet alone would make it very difficult to raise them domestically.
Add the unpredictability and aggressiveness with the very long sharp teeth, and you may have a finger monkey without the finger.
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming have bans on private possession of primates. Several more states are in the process of stopping the possession of primates as pets. There is also the possibility of federal legislation banning these exotic pets.
You must find a veterinarian able to treat a primate before you bring your pet monkey home. These veterinarians are not easy to find.
Make sure any primate you intend on bringing home has had a full physical with a complete set of laboratory tests. As with any primate, you truly don’t know if they have been poached in South America or Africa and you certainly don’t want to bring home a pesky disease like Ebola.
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